The Crime Reporthttps://thecrimereport.org
Your Complete Criminal Justice ResourceSun, 07 Jun 2020 01:20:28 +0000en-US
hourly
1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.4.1Buffalo Officers Charged With Assaulting Protesterhttps://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/06/buffalo-officers-charged-with-assaulting-protester/
https://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/06/buffalo-officers-charged-with-assaulting-protester/#respondSun, 07 Jun 2020 01:20:28 +0000https://thecrimereport.org/?p=970349Two Buffalo police officers were charged with assault Saturday after a video showed them shoving a 75-year-old protester in demonstrations over the death of George Floyd, the Associated Press reports. Robert McCabe and Aaron Torgalski, who surrendered, pleaded not guilty to second-degree assault. They were released without bail. McCabe, 32, and Torgalski, 39, “crossed a line” when they shoved the man down hard enough for him to crack his head on the ground, said Erie County District Attorney John Flynn, calling the victim “a harmless 75-year-old man.” The officers were suspended without pay Friday after a TV crew captured the confrontation the night before.

The footage shows the man, longtime activist Martin Gugino, approaching a line of helmeted officers holding batons as they clear demonstrators from Niagara Square around the time of an 8 p.m. curfew. Two officers push Gugino backward, and he hits his head on the pavement. Blood spills as officers walk past. One officer leans down to check on the injured man before another officer urges the colleague to keep walking. The police officers “knew this was bad,” Flynn said of the video. “Look at their body language.” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said, “I think there was criminal liability from what I saw on the video.” Dozens of Buffalo police officers who were angered over their fellow officers’ suspensions stepped down from the department’s crowd control unit. The resigning officers did not leave their jobs altogether.

]]>https://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/06/buffalo-officers-charged-with-assaulting-protester/feed/0Lack of Data: Missing Link in Justice Reformhttps://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/05/the-missing-link-in-justice-reform/
https://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/05/the-missing-link-in-justice-reform/#respondFri, 05 Jun 2020 15:00:21 +0000https://thecrimereport.org/?p=968495America is in the middle of a roiling debate about the effectiveness and scope of our criminal justice system. Do we incarcerate too many people? Are sentences too long? Are prosecutors too aggressive? Do probation and parole actually work?

Overall, Americans are asking: Are there better ways of doing this?

These questions are hard to answer because they implicate deeply held beliefs about crime, justice, public safety, and rehabilitation. But on a practical level, they’re hard to answer because we lack reliable data. As it stands, we don’t have the numbers needed to answer some fundamental questions.

For example, reformers argue that probation sentences are too long, and that people who make it through a year or two of probation without incident are very unlikely to re-offend. One bit of data that could help answer this question: How many people were re-arrested for a new felony within a year, two years, three years of their release from prison?

Clementine Jacoby

Seems simple. But only 13 states currently report such information. In many states, the data is probably available, but is buried in scattered probation office records, in unlinked spreadsheets or even on paper, and is never reported to any centralized data collection agency.

It turns out, this is true of lots of data points that are critical to making informed criminal justice policy decisions. In the absence of useful and reliable data, many policy makers revert to the most cautious position, despite the terrible fiscal and human consequences of involving too many people in the criminal justice system for too long.

The good news: there’s momentum to solve the problem of getting clear, actionable and timely justice data into the hands of policy makers and the public.

The bad news: the challenges are substantial.

We believe there are four main obstacles to better criminal justice data.

Collection

“Garbage in, garbage out” is a foundational principle of social science. Analysis can only be as good as the data it relies on. There are many problems with the way criminal justice agencies collect data, including not using unique identifiers to link persons across data systems; not collecting data on race and ethnicity in a consistent way; or using different definitions of key terms such as “recidivism.”

Then there are problems with inaccurate or misleading data due to limited entry options or simple human error. The good news is that data collection actually turns out to be the most addressable part of this multi-faceted problem.

Most criminal justice agencies are already collecting a lot of data—far more than they’re able to use effectively (because of the challenges below).

Storage

Once data is collected it must be stored to be usable. But currently, most data storage solutions are built by for-profit vendors who make it hard or expensive to extract data.

Many data systems overwrite information when new data becomes available, making it impossible to analyze outcomes over time. Many agencies store data on paper, including parole case plans or participation in treatment programs, or in marooned spreadsheets that aren’t connected to other digitized data.

Analysis

Comparable, reliable data that is easily accessed is required before any useful analysis can occur. But even if you have data, you need analytical capacity, and that turns out to be a serious problem in many state and local agencies.

Across the 50 state prison systems, which collectively incarcerate more than 1.5 million people at a cost of nearly $50 billion annually, and supervise another 2.3 million people in the community, there are only roughly 200 people charged with analyzing the data collected and turning it into actionable information.

In addition, data is frequently siloed between different agencies: law enforcement, courts, corrections, and supervision each have their own stores of data, which makes it difficult to analyze outcomes as people move between different facets of the criminal justice system. Often, agency staff only have access to their own silo.

Finally, agencies use different definitions of key terms such as recidivism: does it mean re-arrest, re-conviction, or re-incarceration? Over what time period? Are we calculating event- or person-based statistics? The lack of guidance and standard definitions nationally makes it hard to compare results across jurisdictions or roll up data into national findings.

Reporting

The goal of analysis is to inform and shape decisions. But in order to do that, the data needs to be actionable. If you don’t report the right information to the right people at the right time, none of the work to improve data collection, storage and analysis is going to have much impact. Solid policy making is often hampered by old data.

Arthur Rizer

For example, in April 2019, the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics released its most current data on state prison populations—from 2017. Stale data increases risk and uncertainty and can paralyze decision makers.

Additionally, data that is presented in a dense, complex, or misleading fashion won’t have much impact. The way data is presented should match the user’s needs, goals, and authority.

So, the challenges of getting good criminal justice data are substantial. However, we believe they can be met.

Model state legislation can be drafted to direct agencies to report standardized, usable data, and provide funding for collection and storage efforts. Private grant making to expand storage and analytical capacity in states and localities can be ramped up. Experts are looking at best practices for data analysis and presentation.

There is a lot to be done. But voters and policy makers need answers as they sort through complex criminal justice issues, and reformers should be the ones working to provide them.

Arthur Rizer (@arthurrizer) is the Criminal Justice and Civil Liberties Policy Director at the R Street Institute. Arthur, a former police officer and federal prosecutor, is also an adjunct professor of law at George Mason University. Clementine Jacoby is the Executive Director of Recidiviz, a nonprofit tech company that wrangles criminal justice data in order to improve outcomes and help create a smaller, fairer and more effective justice system. Clementine is a former Google product manager.

]]>https://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/05/the-missing-link-in-justice-reform/feed/0Jury Trials Called Unsafe Until COVID-19 Under Controlhttps://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/05/jury-trials-called-unsafe-until-covid-19-under-control/
https://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/05/jury-trials-called-unsafe-until-covid-19-under-control/#respondFri, 05 Jun 2020 14:59:23 +0000https://thecrimereport.org/?p=969096The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL), with support from the NACDL Foundation for Criminal Justice (NFCJ), released a report Thursday saying that due to COVID-19, court proceedings and especially jury trials present a “grave risk to all participants.”

The report said, “Resuming criminal jury trials–particularly in areas of significant community-based transmission –would not only be reckless and irresponsible, but would also undermine the truth-seeking purpose of trials given the well-documented and understandable fear, panic, and uncertainty on the part of jurors, witnesses, court staff, deputies, judges, prosecutors, and defense counsel.”

“We know from the science that across the nation the characteristics of courtrooms, courthouses, and the proceedings that occur inside them, present precisely the type of settings in which the virus spreads most efficiently – enclosed spaces requiring close proximity for an extended period of time,” said NACDL President and Task Force on Criminal Court Reopening Member Nina J. Ginsberg.

Among the recommendations are that the use of virtual proceedings be limited “to the maximum extent possible,” both in scope and duration, and only used with the knowing and informed consent of the accused.

The report calls for “far greater use of pre-trial release and other mechanisms, such as providing the accused with the unilateral right to elect a bench trial where that right does not already exist.”

Among the other recommendations: In-person proceedings must be certified by independent medical experts to present minimal risk of COVID-19 transmission.

The report also said, “The pressure created by the pandemic suggests that courts should reconsider and remedy excessive use of pre-trial detention. Just as the pandemic has exposed inequalities in public health, it has further exposed the fact that courts routinely detain individuals before trial in lieu of practical, available, and safe mechanisms for pre-trial release.”

As the nation’s courts press forward with tentative reopening, “It is imperative that leadership of the judiciary and other stakeholders understand the implications for the criminal legal system and adhere to core principles going
forward.”

This summary was prepared by TCR Deputy Editor Nancy Bilyeau

]]>https://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/05/jury-trials-called-unsafe-until-covid-19-under-control/feed/0DC Protesters Sue Trump; He Suggests They’re ‘Terrorists’https://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/05/dc-protesters-sue-trump-he-suggests-theyre-terrorists/
https://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/05/dc-protesters-sue-trump-he-suggests-theyre-terrorists/#respondFri, 05 Jun 2020 14:55:07 +0000https://thecrimereport.org/?p=969160 Protesters who were forcibly cleared from an area near the White House to make way for a presidential photo-op sued President Donald Trump and other officials, arguing they violated the protesters’ constitutional rights, Politico reports.

The suit came as Trump approvingly tweeted a letter by his former lawyer John Dowd describing the protesters as “terrorists“ who were harassing law enforcement. The letter addressed to Trump’s former defense secretary Jim Mattis said, called the protesters massed at Lafayette Park Monday “phony,” and said they were”terrorists using idle hate-filled students to burn and destroy.”

“I thought this letter from respected retired Marine and Super Star lawyer, John Dowd, would be of interest to the American People,” the president said in his retweet message. “Read it!”

Mattis was among several senior Washington insiders and former Pentagon officials who condemned the president’s call to use the U.S. military during the protests over the death of George Floyd.

The protesters, with the Washington, D.C., chapter of Black Lives Matter, filed the suit against Trump, Attorney General William Barr, Defense Secretary Mark Esper, and the heads of law enforcement agencies that were involved in Monday’s events—when officers launched smoke canisters, chemical irritants and flash-bang shells and charged hundreds of peaceful protesters at Lafayette Square.

The suit alleges a violation of First Amendment rights to free speech and assembly, as well as Fourth Amendment rights to freedom from unreasonable seizure.

The protesters were expressing outrage at the death of George Floyd in Minnesota at the hands of a police officer. Recordings shared on social media showed unprovoked violence by police officers against peaceful protesters and journalists across the U.S. The D.C. protesters say that was the case Monday.

Law enforcement charged at the protesters before D.C.’s 7 p.m. curfew, which was put in place because looting and vandalism in parts of the city. Defendant include members of the U.S. Park Police, Arlington County, Va., police, Secret Service, D.C. National Guard and U.S. military police in their lawsuit. The episode caused a firestorm of criticism against the Trump administration and law enforcement as abusive, unprovoked police violence.

Kristen Clarke of Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, which is helping represent the plaintiffs, said “these statements are abhorrent and a completely false characterization of the peacefully assembled demonstrators who were dispersed through state-sanctioned violence at the hands of government officials.”

]]>https://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/05/dc-protesters-sue-trump-he-suggests-theyre-terrorists/feed/0Up to 850,000 Immigration Cases in ‘Limbo’ After Pandemic Shutdown: Studyhttps://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/05/up-to-850000-immigration-cases-in-limbo-after-pandemic-shutdown-study/
https://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/05/up-to-850000-immigration-cases-in-limbo-after-pandemic-shutdown-study/#respondFri, 05 Jun 2020 14:53:40 +0000https://thecrimereport.org/?p=969098The partial shutdown of immigration courts during the COVID-19 pandemic may put more than 850,000 individuals in “limbo,” as they wait for huge backlogs to clear, says the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University.

Although exact numbers are impossible to confirm, available data indicates that at least 368,000 individuals awaiting hearings have been adversely effected by the health crisis delays, TRACT said.

“This does not represent the full scope of the long-term impact of COVID-19 on the Courts,” TRAC added. “Once scheduling delays for the rest of the individuals in the Court’s backlog are taken into account, 850,000 immigrants—or more than three quarters of a million—may well be affected by the shutdown.”

The cancellation of many final hearings called to decide whether undocumented immigrants initially refused entry can be deported has caused delays across the entire pipeline of the immigration process. Final hearings for at least 85,000 individuals had been cancelled by the end of May.

“These immigrants will now have to wait many months—if not years—before they have their day in court when their cases finally get resolved,” TRAC said.

At present, there is no word on when immigration courts will resume normal operations.

]]>https://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/05/up-to-850000-immigration-cases-in-limbo-after-pandemic-shutdown-study/feed/0Amid Memorials, Two Mayors Vow to Cut Police Budgetshttps://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/05/amid-memorials-two-mayors-vow-to-cut-police-budgets/
https://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/05/amid-memorials-two-mayors-vow-to-cut-police-budgets/#respondFri, 05 Jun 2020 11:06:18 +0000https://thecrimereport.org/?p=969029The family of George Floyd stood in front of thousands at North Central University for a memorial service Thursday, as calls from the podium to change the justice system were echoed by protesters across the nation, the Wall Street Journal reports. “The reason why we’re marching all over the world is because we were like George, we couldn’t breathe,” said the Rev. Al Sharpton, who delivered the eulogy. “It’s time for us to stand up in George’s name and say get your knee off our necks.” Sharpton asked mourners to stand in silence for eight minutes and 46 seconds, the length of time Floyd lay pinned to the pavement.

Protesters have demanded that authorities cut funding for police and put it toward minority communities. They got backing from San Francisco Mayor London Breed, who said she would help lead an effort to redirect money from that city’s police department toward the African-American community. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti announced a similar initiative Wednesday. In New York City, thousands gathered for a memorial for Floyd in in Brooklyn and then marched across the Brooklyn Bridge. Protesters carried signs that said “Black lives matter” and chanted, “No justice, no peace.” Mayor Bill de Blasio received scattered boos, as he promised change. “It will not be about words in this city. It will be about change,” he said. By night, after the city’s 8 p.m. curfew, a crowd of about 200 people were discussing heading to Trump Tower in Midtown but ran into hundreds of police in helmets with batons.

]]>https://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/05/amid-memorials-two-mayors-vow-to-cut-police-budgets/feed/0U.S. Spends Twice as Much on Police as on Welfarehttps://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/05/u-s-spends-twice-as-much-on-police-as-on-welfare/
https://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/05/u-s-spends-twice-as-much-on-police-as-on-welfare/#respondFri, 05 Jun 2020 11:04:29 +0000https://thecrimereport.org/?p=969174The aggressive law enforcement response to demonstrations after George Floyd’s death has produced a chorus of calls to defund and reform the police. Steve Fletcher, who serves on the Minneapolis City Council, has floated the idea of disbanding the police department and starting over with “a community-oriented, nonviolent public safety and outreach capacity.” The Minneapolis agency takes up 30 percent of the city budget, said Brooklyn College sociology professor Alex Vitale. “Instead of giving them more money for pointless training programs, let’s divert that money into building up communities and individuals so we don’t ‘need’ violent and abusive policing.” The tension between funding law enforcement and social services is at the heart of many of the calls for reform. Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman in their book “The Triumph of Injustice” say that the U.S. spends more than twice as much on law and order as it does on cash welfare programs, reports the Washington Post.

Until about 1980, U.S. governments spent roughly the same amount on criminal justice and cash welfare: a little over one percent of total national income for each. Those trend lines have steadily diverged ever since: Welfare spending has been on a long, uneven decline, while law and order spending ballooned almost unabated until about 2010, when it amounted to nearly 2.5 percent of national income. Since then, law and order spending has fallen to a hair under 2 percent, while welfare spending stands at 0.8 percent of national income. Much of the increase in law and order spending stems from the war on drugs, which required massive investment in police and prisons. Many major cities spend as much as 40 percent of their municipal budgets on policing, leaving a dwindling pool of resources for poverty prevention, infrastructure and everything else.

]]>https://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/05/u-s-spends-twice-as-much-on-police-as-on-welfare/feed/0Videos Show Abuse by Police Officers Nationwidehttps://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/05/videos-show-abuse-by-police-officers-nationwide/
https://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/05/videos-show-abuse-by-police-officers-nationwide/#respondFri, 05 Jun 2020 10:45:15 +0000https://thecrimereport.org/?p=968983George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis has prompted the reporting of hundreds of other episodes and videos documenting cases of violent police tactics, reports the New York Times. An Austin, Tx., protester shot in the head by police aiming at someone else with beanbag ammunition was left with brain damage and a fractured skull. Cellphone videos show New York City officers beating unarmed protesters and sideswiping demonstrators with opened squad car doors. Videos around the U.S. show police indiscriminately using pepper spray on protesters or pedestrians. In Atlanta, a half-dozen officers have been criminally charged after a violent attack on two college students sitting in a car during protests. In Buffalo, a video on Thursday showed police in riot gear shoving a 75-year-old man to the ground and walking away as he lay unconscious, blood coming out of his ear. A compilation of videotaped incidents posted on Twitter by a North Carolina lawyer stood at 281 clips by Thursday.

Experts said that the videos showed examples of abrupt escalation by police that was difficult to justify. “It feels like the police are being challenged in ways that they haven’t been challenged in some time,” said Chuck Wexler of the Police Executive Research Forum. “They are responding. And sometimes, that response is totally inappropriate.” Ed Obayashi, a California-based expert on police use of force, said the incidents were an overall improvement on past police conduct during episodes of unrest. Obayashi, a lawyer who advises the California Association of Police Training Officers, said that, considering the level of chaos across the nation, “from my standpoint, there’s been considerable restraint.” Improvements have not necessarily changed the culture of rank-and-file law enforcement, said John Burris, an Oakland, Ca., civil rights lawyer who in 1994 helped represent Rodney King against the Los Angeles Police Department.

]]>https://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/05/videos-show-abuse-by-police-officers-nationwide/feed/0Peer Intervention Training Urged to Halt Officer Abusehttps://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/05/peer-intervention-training-urged-to-halt-officer-abuse/
https://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/05/peer-intervention-training-urged-to-halt-officer-abuse/#respondFri, 05 Jun 2020 10:41:37 +0000https://thecrimereport.org/?p=969144George Floyd suffocated to a slow death, pleading “I can’t breathe,” as a Minneapolis police officer pinned his knee to his neck for nearly nine minutes. What haunts Paul Noel, deputy New Orleans police superintendent, is that three other officers watched it happen. “That’s what I can’t get past,” Noel said. “This was preventable.” The New Orleans Police Department, which has been under a federal consent decree since 2012 for widespread misconduct after Hurricane Katrina seven years earlier, is now a national leader in peer intervention training, Stateline reports. Many experts, civil rights lawyers and law enforcement leaders believe such training might have prevented Floyd’s death. Only a handful of departments use it. Peer intervention training instills the idea that officers have a duty to act as a check on their fellow officers’ misconduct, such as using excessive force, planting evidence or lying in official reports. They are legally obligated, the training teaches, to stop an officer from committing an act of improper policing before it leads to firings, criminal charges or death.

The three officers who watched Floyd die, Noel said, should have stopped it. Advocates of peer intervention say training that puts the oversight onus on fellow officers could help solve systemic problems in law enforcement. “You should be requiring this for every person,” said Christy Lopez, who led the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division’s consent decree negotiations with the Ferguson, Mo., Police Department after the 2014 shooting of Michael Brown. “This is a no-brainer,” said Lopez, who now co-leads Georgetown Law’s Innovative Policing Program. Washington state may become the first state to implement peer intervention training for city and county law enforcement recruits, said Sue Rahr of the Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission. There must be a culture shift in law enforcement, Rahr said.

]]>https://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/05/peer-intervention-training-urged-to-halt-officer-abuse/feed/0Lawyer Calls Case Against Bystander Minneapolis Cop ‘Weak’https://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/05/lawyer-for-accused-minneapolis-cop-calls-case-weak/
https://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/05/lawyer-for-accused-minneapolis-cop-calls-case-weak/#respondFri, 05 Jun 2020 10:39:05 +0000https://thecrimereport.org/?p=969089Two of three Minneapolis police officers accused of aiding and abetting in the death of George Floyd were rookies barely off probation when a more senior white officer ignored the black man’s cries for help and pressed a knee into his neck, defense attorneys said Thursday. the Associated Press reports. Earl Gray said his client, former officer Thomas Lane, had no choice but to follow the instructions of Derek Chauvin, who has been charged with second-degree murder in Floyd’s May 25 death. Gray called the case against his client “extremely weak.”

A judge set bail at $750,000 apiece for Lane, J. Kueng and Tou Thao in Hennepin County District Court Thursday. The Minneapolis Police Department fired all four officers last week and charged Chauvin — initially with third-degree murder — the following day. Protests that began on the streets of Minneapolis quickly spread across the nation, calling for justice for Floyd and other African Americans who were killed by police. Gray said Thursday that all Lane did was hold Floyd’s feet so he couldn’t kick. He noted that the criminal complaint says Lane asked Chauvin twice if they should roll Floyd over and expressed concern that Floyd might be in delirium. He said Lane performed CPR in the ambulance.

]]>https://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/05/lawyer-for-accused-minneapolis-cop-calls-case-weak/feed/0State AG’s Seek Authority to Probe Local Policehttps://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/05/state-ags-seek-authority-to-probe-local-police/
https://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/05/state-ags-seek-authority-to-probe-local-police/#respondFri, 05 Jun 2020 10:34:42 +0000https://thecrimereport.org/?p=969134Eighteen Democratic state attorneys general are asking Congress to grant them the “explicit authority” to investigate patterns of misconduct in local police departments, The Hill reports. “Urgent action is necessary at all levels of government to remedy the injustice of police misconduct,” the AGs wrote. They ask for legislation allowing them to obtain data about excessive uses of force by law enforcement officers and bring charges to federal court “to ensure constitutional policing in our states, particularly when the federal government is unwilling or unable to act.”

Though the Justice Department (DOJ) has launched an investigation into whether the police officer accused of killing George Floyd in Minneapolis violated federal civil rights laws, some lawmakers have been disappointed Attorney General William Barr has not launched a probe into the police department. The states listed the investigations they have already launched in police practices but noted they are limited in scope. “However, much more could be done if Congress formally recognized and empowered all State Attorneys General to conduct federal ‘pattern-or-practice’ investigations, in addition to authority they may already have under state statutes,” the AGs wrote. “One thing is certain: if [the Justice Department] continues to abdicate its responsibility to pursue police reform, someone has to take action. We stand ready to do so.”

]]>https://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/05/state-ags-seek-authority-to-probe-local-police/feed/0Racial Slurs Cited As GA Jogger Killing Case Advanceshttps://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/05/racial-slurs-cited-as-ga-jogger-killing-case-advances/
https://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/05/racial-slurs-cited-as-ga-jogger-killing-case-advances/#respondFri, 05 Jun 2020 09:45:11 +0000https://thecrimereport.org/?p=968951A Georgia judge said there was probable cause to try three white men on murder charges in the death of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old black man fatally shot while jogging, the Wall Street Journal reports. The decision concluded testimony at a preliminary hearing in which prosecutors asserted that Arbery was “chased, hunted down and ultimately executed,” and that the white man who shot him was heard saying racial slurs over his body. The prosecution laid out its case against Gregory McMichael, and his son, Travis and William Bryan Jr., at the Glynn County courthouse. Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent Richard Dial recounted how Travis McMichael used a racial slur after he fatally shot Arbery. Bryan told investigators he heard Travis call Arbery a “f—ing n—.”

Attorneys for McMichael denied he had used a racial slur and suggested Bryan was lying to investigators in a bid for leniency. Thursday’s hearing took place against the backdrop of nationwide protests over police brutality and racial justice stemming from the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. The U.S. Justice Department is weighing potential federal hate-crime charges in the Arbery case. Georgia is one of a handful of states with no hate-crime laws. Dial offered a timeline of the moments leading up to Arbery’s death, testifying that video evidence showed the three men chased Arbery around the neighborhood and used their vehicles to trap him on the two-lane street where he was shot and killed. Arbery’s death drew nationwide attention after a video showing the fatal shooting circulated online. Dial said Travis McMichael used racial slurs “several times” on social media McMichael, who runs a company that gives custom boat tours, said he loved his job because “there weren’t any n—s anywhere.”

]]>https://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/05/racial-slurs-cited-as-ga-jogger-killing-case-advances/feed/0Bernie Madoff Loses Bid for Compassionate Releasehttps://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/05/bernie-madoff-loses-bid-for-compassionate-release/
https://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/05/bernie-madoff-loses-bid-for-compassionate-release/#respondFri, 05 Jun 2020 08:30:35 +0000https://thecrimereport.org/?p=969061Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff got no compassion from a New York City federal judge, who denied his bid for early release because he is dying, the New York Daily News reports. “When I sentenced Mr. Madoff in 2009, it was fully my intent that he live out the rest of his life in prison. His lawyers asked then for a sentence of 12 to 15 to 20 years, specifically with the hope that Mr. Madoff would live to see ‘the light of day,’” Judge Denny Chin wrote. “I was not persuaded; I did not believe that Mr. Madoff was deserving of that hope. Nothing has happened in the 11 years since to change my thinking. While Mr. Madoff’s present medical situation is most unfortunate, compassionate release is not warranted.”

Madoff’s longshot plea for mercy was publicized in February. The fraudster held at a prison in Butner, N.C., wrote that he had a terminal case of kidney disease and less than 18 months to live. The 82-year-old asked the judge to allow him to spend his final days at a friend’s home. “I’m terminally ill,” Madoff said. “There’s no cure for my type of disease. So, you know, I’ve served. I’ve served 11 years already, and, quite frankly, I’ve suffered through it.” Chin sentenced Madoff to 150 years for the unprecedented $65 billion scam that bilked thousands of investors, destroyed lives and emptied retirement funds. After Madoff’s request became public, 520 victims wrote to Chin. Some 96 percent opposed the request. “Many people are still suffering from Mr. Madoff’s actions. I also believe that Mr. Madoff was never truly remorseful, and that he was only sorry that his life as he knew it was collapsing around him. Even at the end, he was trying to send more millions of his ill-gotten gains to family members, friends, and certain employees,” Chin wrote.

]]>https://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/05/bernie-madoff-loses-bid-for-compassionate-release/feed/0Former Prison For D.C. Turned Into Suburban Housinghttps://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/05/former-prison-for-d-c-turned-into-suburban-housing/
https://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/05/former-prison-for-d-c-turned-into-suburban-housing/#respondFri, 05 Jun 2020 05:19:01 +0000https://thecrimereport.org/?p=968602What was once the overcrowded, violent Lorton Reformatory in northern Virginia now is a desirable suburban development, reports WTOP radio. After 91 years of housing D.C. inmates, before closing in 2001, and being returned to Fairfax County, Va., developers of Liberty are proudly heralding Lorton prison’s before and after. The Liberty development, incorporates many of the historic buildings and facades — including several guard towers — from what was the Lorton Reformatory. With street names like Reformatory Way and Sallyport Street, new apartments, townhomes and single family homes are built around reclaimed buildings from the Lorton Reformatory and the adjacent workhouse.

Prisoners convicted of less-serious crimes were housed in dormitories at the Lorton Reformatory. Many of the original signs remain affixed to bricks near front doors of Liberty Crest apartment units. Many of the 157 urban townhomes, as well as apartments, and 24 single-family homes in the Liberty community have views from their windows, including one of several reclaimed guard towers. Notable inmates in Lorton Reformatory included musician Chuck Brown, Watergate burglar-turned-radio host G. Gordon Liddy, aviator and Nazi agent Laura Houghtaling Ingalls and author Norman Mailer, who was arrested for protesting the Vietnam War.

]]>https://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/05/former-prison-for-d-c-turned-into-suburban-housing/feed/0‘They Do Have Souls’: A Dialogue Between Cops and Protestershttps://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/04/they-do-have-souls-a-dialogue-between-cops-and-protesters/
https://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/04/they-do-have-souls-a-dialogue-between-cops-and-protesters/#respondThu, 04 Jun 2020 15:34:30 +0000https://thecrimereport.org/?p=967622I could hear the protesters at Union Square Park before I could see them.

Walking along 14th street in New York City, the wind rushed past me, carrying the sound of a crowd chanting just a few blocks ahead. I could faintly make out what I’ve heard on the news for the past eight nights of protests across the country, but now, I heard it in person: “Black lives matter! Black lives matter!”

According to the medical examiner’s report, Floyd died from asphyxiation after a Minneapolis police officer restricted his breathing by pressing a knee to his neck while he lay on the street. Floyd had been stopped by the police for allegedly passing a counterfeit $20 bill.

Video of the incident and his last minutes, filmed by a bystander, went viral.

New York City is no stranger to protests against police misconduct, but the demonstrations this week, coinciding with the COVID-19 pandemic, have contributed to heightened tension—and also a sense among some that this time, the loud voices might produce long-sought-for changes.

As I continued walking toward Union Square, the sound of distant peaceful demonstrators began to mix with the buzzing of power tools as businesses were boarding up their facades with plywood. Nearly every major store on my way to the park had their windows and doors covered to protect from vandalism and looting.

Boarded-up shops line the protesters’ route. All Photos by Andrea Cipriano/TCR.

As I arrived at Union Square, a crowd of about 500 people quickly came into view. I adjusted my cloth mask to make sure it fit my face tightly, remembering that despite being in the middle of the coronavirus pandemic, hundreds of additional people would soon descend upon the park as the sun would set.

It was only 6 pm, so I had a few hours before the citywide 8 pm curfew went into effect, and I did not want to get stuck in a large crowd after that time.

I walked through the groups of people, noticing that the crowd was a multicultural mix of people of all ages. Everyone also had face masks on, with some people wearing black masks printed with the statement, “I CAN’T BREATHE!” as if to remind others of one of the last phrases George Floyd said before falling unconscious and losing his life.

The original chanting I heard minutes ago had stopped, as everyone was gathered around the southernmost part of Union Square, where activists perched upon boulders in the park to address the crowd.

One African-American activist, who appeared to be in his early 20s dressed in all black, shouted out to the crowd, asking them if racism is inherent or taught.

“Taught!” responded the crowd.

Then he challenged everyone to think about why unarmed black men and women are killed by police, and how we can use our voices for change.

‘We Don’t Need to Break into Buildings’

“We don’t need to break into buildings, we don’t need to rob — we don’t need nothing else, we need each other right here!” he said, to cheers and raised fists.

“Let’s get a plan, let’s support each other, and let’s make it worldwide!” the activist exclaimed.

“Left or right, we support each other, and that’s what it’s about!”

More than 2,000 demonstrators converged on lower Manhattan. Photo by Andrea Cipriano.

His roughly two-minute speech seemed to ignite something in the protesters. Some of them peacefully approached the line of NYPD officers that suddenly appeared on the left side of the group.

The police had not been there when the young man began speaking.

A few protesters were nearly toe-to-toe with the officers, who were not all in their riot gear.

Pain on Both Sides

It was there that I saw pain and personal inner turmoil show on both sides.

A tall African-American man with shoulder-length braids began to speak to the officers. Close to tears, he said he had been hurt by law enforcement before. He spoke about how, at the age of 33, he’s lost friends because of cops, and that he felt broken by the injustice.

“Why? Why?” he kept shouting to the officers.

One of the officers trained his eyes on the demonstrator, clearly keeping up with the moment. He was white and bald, and his face was mostly hidden behind a KN95 mask so I couldn’t make out his expressions. However, I could still see his large eyes full of presence, and he was listening.

Then, a larger African-American man with a megaphone came up on the right of the man with braids and challenged his peaceful demeanor. Through the amplifier, this outsider said that he, too, lost friends and family at the police’s hands, but he said that law enforcement was too far gone to connect with.

The man with the megaphone asked the protester, why would he interact with the officers if they didn’t have any souls?

“They chose this profession!” he shouted through his amplifier for everyone to clearly hear.

‘They Do Have Souls’

“But they do have souls!” the protester responded, raising his voice to try and be heard just as equally, and challenging the other man’s negative view of the police.

“I’m trying to talk with them!”

As the man with the braids said this, another protester with long dreadlocks and an army-print jacket approached the officers in agreement with the positive beliefs. He began making conversation with the white officer who was keeping a close eye on the situation, and another white female officer leaned in to listen.

Their conversation looked deep and intimate. None of us could hear the details. The protester and the two officers each looked one another in the eye when speaking. I saw a lot of slow nodding done by all parties.

At one point, the male officer kept placing his right hand over his heart. They seemed to genuinely agree with one another.

While I bore witness to this scene, hundreds of demonstrators began to crowd around the situation to see what was going on.

A reminder of the demonstrators’ cause.

Simultaneously, a few dozen NYPD officers outfitted in riot gear seemed to materialize and were surrounding us on the south side of Union Square Park. I watched as the officers marched past me to get into their lined formation, each officer paired with a set of zip-tie handcuffs clipped to their waist.

The other new officers must have gotten spooked because, with the large crowd that had formed, the officers talking calmly with demonstrators seemed to get swallowed up by the sheer number of people there. It put many of us on edge, wondering what was going to happen next.

The group’s activist organizers must have felt the sudden tension in the air too, because they quickly swooped in, telling the large crowd to “back up” and to “give the officers some space” while they shamed the aggravator with the megaphone for “stirring the pot.”

“Don’t be the animal they want you to be,” one female organizer said to the man with the megaphone. “You cannot be the ‘Angry-Black-Man’ here.”

She was advocating for peace.

As everyone backed up, I looked to see if the dozens of new officers in formation were going to mobilize, but they were standing down.

Marching Down Broadway

As the tension dissipated, one of the organizers inspired the crowd to leave the park and take to the streets. Within moments, all of us were marching down Broadway. Whispered rumors indicated we were heading down to Washington Square Park to merge with another group of demonstrators.

As we walked like a caravan down the streets of Greenwich Village, the energy began to feel more alive with passion than before. People started chant after chant, inspiring others living in the apartment buildings above to lean out their windows and clap along.

Some people appeared with pots and pans, flooding the streets high above us with noise and acclimation.

No Justice — No Peace! No Justice — No Peace!

While we continued to our new destination, the group accumulated more people with every cross street we passed. People young and old began melting into the crowd, amplifying our voices. We were nearly 1,000 people strong.

At one point, as we neared to turn off of Broadway and onto Washington Place, an older man shouted, “I don’t even know the sound of 400 years of a knee on my neck!”

A young woman marching ahead of me with fiery red hair shouts back in response, “This is what it sounds like!” and a new chant began: Say his name — George Floyd! Say his name — George Floyd! Say his name — George Floyd!

END OF THE ROAD: A NYC Department of Correction bus waits to take away curfew breakers

We were a loud and boisterous group while marching into Washington Square Park. It seemed as though the unplanned location change took many park-goes by surprise. A group of three friends, picnicking and unmasked, sat transfixed in the grass as we marched past.

Other dog walkers picked up their pets, and some parents with children turned to leave.

We stayed at Washington Square Park for only a few minutes after realizing the group we were going to merge with had already started marching ahead of us. We walked the 7 blocks up 5th Avenue to intersect back with 14th Street, and when we arrived to meet the rest of the protesters, it was an incredibly warm welcome.

Hundreds of new demonstrators were marching across 14th Street and flooding into Union Square. The crowd I was walking with began to cheer the way you would after seeing old family friends for the first time in years. Everyone was waving and pumping their fists in the air.

Now, we were one group of roughly 2,000 people trying to squeeze into Union Square Park. To keep semblance and order, the NYPD formed a line of officers stopping protesters from going any further east than Broadway.

Instead of the protesters meeting the officers with aggression, we met them with peace, as nearly all 2,000 people got down on one knee—a protest symbol used to demonstrate against the mistreatment of African Americans.

Thin blue line.

In that moment I was in a wave of people, and it felt like I was no longer a singular person — but part of a larger body, fighting for the same thing — justice for George Floyd, and for all of the African Americans wronged and killed by police brutality.

Everyone dropped to their knees like dominoes, demonstrating solidarity. The crowd started chanting, N-Y-P-D take a knee! N-Y-P-D take a knee!

The officers wouldn’t budge.

After about a minute of staying low and continuing to chant, the officers filed out and walked away from the overwhelming crowd we developed. Many applauded as they were happy to keep the peace.

Curfew Approaches

The crowd was getting too big to stay in one place, so organizers led the group down Broadway again, seemingly to make the same marching loop we had just come from. I checked my watch, realizing we were about 30 minutes away from the 8 pm curfew.

I didn’t want to stick around to see what was going to happen then.

It was time for me to head back home.

Andrea Cipriano

As if on cue, I caught a glimpse of the stark white “NYC Correction” bus pulling up on a side street to Union Square—like a warning for what was to come as the peaceful Black Lives Matter protesters faded out, and the nearly indistinguishable looters and instigators folded in with the crowd.

As I broke away from the group’s body, I found myself walking almost aimlessly uptown to hunt any open and operating subway. I kept getting further away from the crowd I was a part of, but I could still hear their chanting echoing behind me.

No Justice — No Peace! Say his name — George Floyd!

Andrea Cipriano is a TCR staff writer.

]]>https://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/04/they-do-have-souls-a-dialogue-between-cops-and-protesters/feed/0Will Pandemic Be ‘Tipping Point’ For Justice Reform?https://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/04/will-pandemic-be-tipping-point-for-justice-reform/
https://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/04/will-pandemic-be-tipping-point-for-justice-reform/#respondThu, 04 Jun 2020 15:32:42 +0000https://thecrimereport.org/?p=967577Covid-19 has ravaged the nation’s prisons. Scores of inmates are dead. More are sick. And the healthy ones are at risk daily, despite calls for federal and state officials across all three branches of government to do more to save lives.

Some 72 federal inmates and one member of the corrections staff have died from the disease, according to the most recent Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) data. Another 1,956 inmates and 176 BOP staff have tested positive.

With a still-rising clamor for action, the coronavirus pandemic has prompted authorities, including Attorney General William Barr, to support the release of some inmates who might have remained locked up in ordinary times, particularly older and medically vulnerable prisoners who pose relatively little risk to society.

That has led reform advocates, academics and lawyers to ask why officials can’t make more use of compassionate release and home confinement after the pandemic passes, especially if crime doesn’t rise as a result and cash-strapped states want the biggest bang for their public safety bucks?

“The sky’s not going to fall,” said Kevin Ring, whose organization, Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM), has been advocating compassionate release for years.

“These are old and sick people. They are the least likely to re-offend.”

Nevertheless, Kent Scheidegger, legal director of the Criminal Justice Legal Foundation, a victims’ rights advocacy group opposed to early release, says it is likely there has been an increase in crime due to the virus-related releases.

He argues that the jump has been “masked in crime statistics by the even greater reduction caused by people sheltering at home.”

Still, some reformers, who’ve been fighting for years against warehousing older and sick inmates in particular, see a glimmer of hope that this generational tragedy could serve to promote a more evidence-based approach to crime and punishment.

Pre-Pandemic Reforms

The pandemic hit at a time when some criminal justice reforms had started to take shape.

The bipartisan First Step Act, signed into law by President Donald Trump at the end of 2018, was criticized for not going far enough to topple the tough-on-crime policies that led to the U.S. having the world’s largest prison population.

But the new law included the compassionate release provision that’s being used to get vulnerable inmates out of harm’s way.

Before the pandemic, “we were already seeing the culture shift a little bit and the number of releases rise,” said FAMM’s Ring. “I think we’re just seeing an acceleration because judges are seeing vulnerable people plus COVID.”

Between April and May, more than 250 federal prisoners have been freed by compassionate release—compared to fewer than 150 from the First Step Act’s passage in the preceding year through March 2020—according to a Marshall Project account.

The pandemic added another tool to the release toolbox, if only temporarily. Part of the CARES Act, passed in response to the emergency, gives Barr and the BOP expanded home confinement authority for the duration of the crisis.

While the attorney general has directed the BOP to use home confinement to protect vulnerable inmates, it hasn’t happened to the extent sought by advocates. The Department of Justice is also fighting some release requests as well as some virus-related safety measures imposed on facilities by judges.

The DOJ failed to respond to a request for comment on its pandemic relief efforts for this story.

Since late March, more than 3,000 federal inmates have been placed on home confinement, according to BOP data. State releases vary widely—with hundreds of state inmate deaths and thousands of infections reported nationwide.

Rethinking Punishment

As they push for more aggressive action from the government, advocates are mulling over ways to capitalize on the extraordinary situation.

“The hope is that this moment does [demonstrate] an opportunity around releases and being responsive to the recommendations that have been suggested for many years,” said Nicole Porter, director of advocacy at The Sentencing Project.

Her group promotes reforms in sentencing, racial disparities and incarceration alternatives.

Echoing that notion, Jeremiah Mosteller, policy counsel at the bipartisan Due Process Institute, said “many of the reforms advocates have been calling for in recent years are being implemented temporarily in justice systems across our country.”

So the pandemic “could serve as a tipping point for the recent momentum to implement evidence-based policies and other reforms in our criminal justice system,” Mosteller said.

Underscoring the bipartisan nature of the reform effort, Marc Levin, chief of policy and innovation at the conservative group Right on Crime, said the pandemic presents “a chance to reexamine some things that were just kind of accepted and old ways of doing things that don’t make that much sense anymore.”

“We’ve always thought that the evidence has shown that you could have a smaller system but a more effective one,” Levin said.

“Obviously the pandemic has magnified the risks of large congregated settings with poor sanitary conditions, which is what prisons and jails are.”

A new report from the Council on Criminal Justice notes, “even before the novel coronavirus surfaced, the calls for criminal justice reform in our country were urgent and widespread,” and that “Americans from across the ideological spectrum are pushing for a reevaluation of priorities, and for incarceration alternatives for people who pose no real threat to public safety.”

Among its recommendations is “establishing a ‘second look’ provision allowing people serving longer sentences—many of them elderly and infirm—to ask courts for sentence reductions.”

These unexpected releases have created an experiment, of sorts—one that will play out in the months and years ahead.

Though officials could have acted more quickly and boldly, FAMM’s Ring said the crisis “has forced them to do things that are providing us a model to say, ‘Ok, well, how did it work?’”

The Sentencing Project’s Porter likewise said the nation is “in the middle of a social experiment when it comes to releases,” which creates “an opportunity to assess recidivism and returns to prison.”

What that assessment shows remains to be seen. But there’s reason to think that crime won’t rise—at least not due to the people getting out on compassionate release.

“The truth is, we are all functioning in a very unreal world right now,” said Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, a reform-minded prosecutor elected in 2017, who has worked to facilitate releases during the pandemic.

‘They really didn’t need to be in jail, pre-pandemic, post-pandemic, or in the middle of the pandemic.’

His office has been tracking various crime metrics, and will be monitoring what happens to those who’ve come out during these times who probably wouldn’t have otherwise.

There “could be sort of a backlash, because we ever dared to let some people out for perfectly good reasons that were in the interests of justice,” Krasner said.

But, he added, it “may also be that, by recognizing that jails, just like cruise ships and senior centers, are potential launchpads for the virus, that there’s a little bit more of a light shined on those jails, there’s a little more thought by people in the general public who don’t think about it very much, what it’s like to be in a facility.”

**Given the care that’s being exercised in only letting out good candidates for release, Krasner said, “my guess is going to be they really didn’t need to be in jail, pre-pandemic, post-pandemic, or in the middle of the pandemic. They really didn’t.

“And the data in general is going to support that. Some hearts and minds will be won over by that.”

Noting that DOJ’s expanded home confinement power is temporary, FAMM’s Ring said there should be a law that says, “In a declared national emergency, the Department has this authority.”

Advocates are also going to focus on why prison reform makes economic sense, in their view. That’s all the more salient when budgets are tight.

Changing Economics

Sentencing expert Douglas Berman, an Ohio State University law professor, said “what’s really going to end up shaping this story for years to come are the basic economics.”

No state’s going to want to build a new prison now, he said.

Economic reality “forces the issue,” said Right on Crime’s Levin. “The pandemic has made this more urgent, and maybe it wouldn’t have been on some people’s radars or been a priority had the budgetary impact of this pandemic not occurred.

“I think we’ll have their attention.”

But economic factors could also make advocacy harder in some respects.

“Because the economy is so awful, and so many people are unemployed, this is going to make reentry for people coming out of prison even more difficult than it usually is,” said professor Rachel Barkow, a leading expert on criminal law and policy at the New York University Law School.

“That might skew the re-offending numbers in a way that is misleadingly high,” she said.

Meanwhile, Scheidegger, the crime victims’ advocate opposed to releases, suggested that the current crime rate data is misleading.

“As the country reopens,” he said, “the effect of releases will show in statistics as well. Perhaps this will be the event that wakes the public up.” He said inmates could be isolated instead.

Mosteller of The Due Process Institute said that “most of the individuals who are released through these policies will return to their lives as law-abiding, productive members of their community.”

He conceded that, “inevitably, someone released from our prisons and jails during this time will commit another crime, and it has already happened in some places.”

Mosteller noted that, “while one bad story will not end the pursuit of criminal justice reform in these places, the way communities and advocates respond to these anecdotal stories could hamper our leaders from adopting policies that will result in a long-term increase of public safety in our communities.”

Jordan S. Rubin

In terms of what lessons people draw from the pandemic, in the end, DA Krasner said “it’ll all get a little clearer once the scrum is over and we can all stand up, covered in mud.”

Justice, he said, “tends to zig and zag. I don’t know whether we’ll be zigging or zagging after this pandemic. I would like to hope it will be towards progress.

“But we’ll see.”

Jordan S. Rubin, a Washington, D.C.-based staff writer at Bloomberg Law, is a 2020 Harry Frank Guggenheim Justice Reporting Fellow. This is a slightly condensed and edited version of a story published last week. The full version can be downloaded here. Jordan S. Rubin can be reached at jrubin@bloomberglaw.com

]]>https://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/04/will-pandemic-be-tipping-point-for-justice-reform/feed/0Officer-Involved Fatal Shootings ‘Hard to Convict’https://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/04/officer-involved-fatal-shootings-hard-to-convict/
https://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/04/officer-involved-fatal-shootings-hard-to-convict/#respondThu, 04 Jun 2020 15:31:34 +0000https://thecrimereport.org/?p=968163Following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police, all four former officers involved face charges.

The charges range from second-degree murder for Derek Chauvin, who pressed his knee on Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes, to “aiding and abetting” second-degree murder for the three officers on the scene.

Now that charges have been filed, the next big question becomes, what about a conviction? The data aren’t promising.

Data shows that on-duty police officers in America shoot and kill someone more than 900 times each year. But in nearly all of those criminal cases brought against the police officer, the investigations determine that they were legally justified in their killing.

“Only about 1 percent of all fatal police shootings result in murder or manslaughter charges,” Philip Stinson, an associate professor at Bowling Green State University’s criminal justice program and former police officer and attorney, writes in a USA Today article.

“It’s hard to believe that the other 99 percent are legally justified uses of deadly force.”

Despite the lengthy and graphic video footage taken by a bystander that depicts the Floyd incident, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison told newscasters this past Monday on NBC “Today” show, “a quick resolution to the case should not be taken for granted.”

“I’m not really commenting on the evidence at all. What I’m really saying is that, you know, it’s hard to convict the police — and even when the criminal wrongdoing appears to be in front of your eyes,” Ellison said on NBC, as quoted by Politico.

“And so it takes preparation. It takes planning. It takes time. And so that’s what I’m trying to prepare people for.”

On that same topic, during the press briefing in Minnesota yesterday, Ellison responded to a reporter asking how much time he will expect the prosecution to build their case before taking Chauvin and the other officers to trial.

Ellison said, “This is going to take months … it will take a while and I can’t set a deadline on that.”

Ellison’s mentality of looking at this case like a marathon rather than a sprint shows how intricate George Floyd’s case is, and more importantly, how much preparation must be done to get a murder conviction against a law enforcement officer.

Moreover, many are drawing similarities of the evidence to Eric Garner’s case, but they’re hoping there won’t be similarities when it comes to the conviction.

In July 2014, Garner wass put in a chokehold by former NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo after he was apprehended for selling loose cigarettes on the street. That chokehold took Garner’s life, and a witness filmed most of the incident, where Garner can be heard crying out, “I can’t breathe.”

A grand jury decided not to indict Pantaleo for Garner’s killing, and the U.S. Department of Justice declined to bring criminal charges against him, according to NBC News.

Gwen Carr, Eric Garner’s mother, recently spoke to Pop Culture about George Floyd’s case, and said she doubts Officer Derek Chauvin will be brought to justice. However, she said she would “love to be proven wrong.”

Carr is not the only one with doubts. When looking at the data of police-involved deaths, it seems as though the justice scales don’t stand equally.

According to the Bowling Green University Police Integrity Research Group’s data, since 2005, 98 non-federal law enforcement officers have been arrested in connection with fatal, on-duty shootings.

Also since 2005, “only 35 of these officers have been convicted of a crime, often a lesser offense such as manslaughter or negligent homicide, rather than murder,” the Police Integrity Research Group explained.

Only three non-federal officers have been convicted of murder during this period and seen their convictions stand, as the rest of the officers are eventually acquitted or have their cases dismissed by a judge or prosecutor, NBC News detailed.

Moreover, Stinton says that race and ethnicity have a monumental impact on how convictions against officers take place.

In an article that Stinson wrote for USA Today in 2019, he discussed the rare third-degree murder conviction of Minneapolis police officer Mohamed Noor in the July 2017 shooting death of Justine Damond.

Noor is a Somali American, Stinson points out, and Damond was white.

He suggests that race played an important role in the jury verdict seeing that the data shows that for any crime, “black officers are more likely to be convicted of a felony,” whereas “the white officers who are convicted frequently receive lighter sentences.”

“None of these cases, cases involving police shootings, is ever easy or exactly the same,” Stinson told NBC in 2019, so while the data may not look entirely promising for a conviction against Chauvin and the other 3 officers in the killing of George Floyd, as Minnesota AG Ellison has said, he’s prepared for the long haul.

This summary was prepared by TCR staffer Andrea Cipriano

]]>https://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/04/officer-involved-fatal-shootings-hard-to-convict/feed/010,000 Arrested in Protests Nationwide Since Floyd’s Deathhttps://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/04/10000-arrested-in-protests-nationwide-since-floyds-death/
https://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/04/10000-arrested-in-protests-nationwide-since-floyds-death/#respondThu, 04 Jun 2020 11:31:15 +0000https://thecrimereport.org/?p=968050More than 10,000 people have been arrested in protests decrying racism and police brutality since George Floyd’s death, the Associated Press reports. The count has grown by the hundreds daily as protesters encountered a heavy police presence and curfews that give law enforcement stepped-up arrest powers. Los Angeles has had more than a quarter of the national arrests, followed by New York, Dallas and Philadelphia. Many arrests have been for low-level offenses such as curfew violations and failure to disperse. Hundreds were arrested on burglary and looting charges.

As cities were engulfed in unrest, some politicians claimed that the majority of the protesters were outside agitators, including a contention by Minnesota’s governor that 80 percent of the participants in the demonstrations were from out of state. The arrests in Minneapolis tell a different story. In a nearly 24-hour period from Saturday night to Sunday afternoon, 41 of the 52 people cited with protest-related arrests had Minnesota driver’s licenses, according to the Hennepin County sheriff. In the nation’s capital, 86 percent of the more than 400 people arrested as of Wednesday afternoon were from Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia. It is not known how many of the people arrested were locked up, an issue as many jails are dealing with coronavirus outbreaks. In Los Angeles, an online fundraising campaign has gathered $2 million to help more than 3,000 people arrested in demonstrations since Floyd died on May 25 in Minneapolis. Kath Rogers of the National Lawyers Guild said some people had been swept up in the arrests because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time, like a woman who was simply going for an evening walk and wasn’t part of the protest. Or a young man who was taking pictures of looting with his phone and then was arrested for looting.

]]>https://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/04/10000-arrested-in-protests-nationwide-since-floyds-death/feed/0Three More Officers Charged in Killing of Floydhttps://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/04/three-more-officers-charged-in-george-floyds-death/
https://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/04/three-more-officers-charged-in-george-floyds-death/#respondThu, 04 Jun 2020 11:26:33 +0000https://thecrimereport.org/?p=967551Prosecutors charged three more police officers in the death of George Floyd and filed a tougher charge against the officer at the center of the case, delivering a victory to protesters who have filled the streets from coast to coast to fight police brutality and racial injustice, the Associated Press reports. Derek Chauvin, who was caught on video pressing his knee to Floyd’s neck, now must defend himself against an accusation of second-degree murder. The three other officers at the scene were charged with aiding and abetting second-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter.

The new second-degree murder charge alleges that Chauvin caused Floyd’s death without intent while committing another felony, third-degree assault. It carries a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison, compared with 25 years for third-degree murder. The other officers — Thomas Lane, J. Kueng and Tou Thao — face the same maximum penalties for aiding and abetting. The additional charges were sought by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison. Floyd’s “His life had value, and we will seek justice,” said Ellison, who cautioned that winning convictions would be hard. Ben Crump, an attorney for Floyd’s family, called it “a bittersweet moment” and “a significant step forward on the road to justice.” Crump said Ellison told the family he would continue his investigation into Floyd’s death and upgrade the charge to first-degree murder if warranted.

]]>https://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/04/three-more-officers-charged-in-george-floyds-death/feed/0Many D.C.-Area Law Enforcers Don’t Identify Themselveshttps://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/04/many-d-c-area-law-enforcers-dont-identify-themselves/
https://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/04/many-d-c-area-law-enforcers-dont-identify-themselves/#respondThu, 04 Jun 2020 11:20:48 +0000https://thecrimereport.org/?p=968086Washington, D.C., area residents have been confronted with a number of heavily armed law enforcement officers who share an unexpected characteristic: Neither their affiliation nor their personal identities are discernible, the Washington Post reports.Mother Jones reporter Dan Friedman encountered individuals who gave no more specific identification than that they were associated with the Justice Department. Outside the White House, federal law enforcement officers wouldn’t identify themselves, and all insignias and name plates have been removed. The New Republic’s Matt Ford, when he asked armed men if they were associated with the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) based on an acronym on their uniforms, he was told, “Maybe.”

Friedman later confirmed with BOP that the men he encountered were with the agency. “The idea that the federal government is putting law enforcement personnel on the line without appropriate designation of agency, name, etc. — that’s a direct contradiction of the oversight that they’ve been providing for many years to local police and demanding in all of their various monitorships and accreditation,” said former New York City police commissioner William Bratton. The prospect of government agencies involved in policing the city seeking to obscure their identities, Bratton said, was “very concerning.” The vagueness of their identity and their disinterest in identifying themselves introduce specific challenges and risks, said former FBI agent Clint Watts. A civilian might refuse to respond to an order from a law enforcement official who doesn’t identify themselves. “If I go out and I pull out a gun and I say, ‘Freeze,’ and they say why, I would have to say, ‘I’m an FBI agent’ or law enforcement officer or whatever,” he said, “because otherwise they would be totally in the right to defend themselves potentially.” An added danger is that law enforcement officers wouldn’t recognize one another.

]]>https://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/04/many-d-c-area-law-enforcers-dont-identify-themselves/feed/0WA Man Said ‘I Can’t Breathe’ While Dying in Police Custodyhttps://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/04/wa-man-said-i-cant-breathe-while-dying-in-police-custody/
https://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/04/wa-man-said-i-cant-breathe-while-dying-in-police-custody/#respondThu, 04 Jun 2020 11:15:07 +0000https://thecrimereport.org/?p=968011A black man who called out “I can’t breathe” before dying in police custody in Tacoma, Wa., was killed as a result of oxygen deprivation and the physical restraint that was used on him, reports the New York Times. The Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office concluded that the death of Manuel Ellis, 33, was a homicide. Ellis’s sister, Monet Carter-Mixon, called for scrutiny of both the police department’s practices and how the investigation into his death has been handled. Ellis died from respiratory arrest, hypoxia and physical restraint, according to the medical examiner’s office. The report listed methamphetamine intoxication and heart disease as contributing factors.

Police officers encountered Ellis, a musician and father of two on March 3 as they were stopped at an intersection. They saw him banging on the window of another vehicle, said detective Ed Troyer. Ellis approached the officers, and threw an officer to the ground when the officer got out of the vehicle. The two officers and two backup officers — two of them white, one black and one Asian — handcuffed him. “Mr. Ellis was physically restrained as he continued to be combative,” the Tacoma Police Department said. Troyer said he did not believe officers used a chokehold or a knee on Ellis’s neck. They rolled him on his side after he called out, “I can’t breathe.” Troyer said, “The main reason why he was restrained was so he wouldn’t hurt himself or them. As soon as he said he couldn’t breathe, they requested medical aid.”

]]>https://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/04/wa-man-said-i-cant-breathe-while-dying-in-police-custody/feed/0Despite Trump Claim, Tear Gas Was Used in D.C. Protestshttps://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/04/despite-trump-claim-tear-gas-was-used-in-d-c-protests/
https://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/04/despite-trump-claim-tear-gas-was-used-in-d-c-protests/#respondThu, 04 Jun 2020 10:45:48 +0000https://thecrimereport.org/?p=968122The shocking scene of peaceful protesters gassed and pummeled with rubber bullets Monday in Washington, D.C., to make way for a presidential photo op dominated the news cycle for nearly 24 hours, with images of coughing, weeping activists fleeing through billows of smoke. President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign pushed back by demanding a correction from the media: The part in the stories about “tear gas” being used on the crowd, they maintained, was untrue. Was it? The campaign claim, based on a U.S. Park Police statement that officers used “pepper balls” and “smoke canisters” but not tear gas, appears to be a distinction without a difference, according to how the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention classifies tear gas, the Washington Post reports.

The episode represents a common Trump team tactic of going on the offensive against a potentially damning news story by blurring a small debate over semantics into a wholesale attack on the integrity of the news media. “Media Falsely Claimed Violent Riots Were Peaceful And That Tear Gas Was Used Against Rioters,” Trump tweeted. The White House claim that the Monday evening protesters were “violent” before Park Police moved in has not been supported by video or witness accounts. Whether or not it was “tear gas” — the bursting clouds that governments have used for nearly 100 years to disperse crowds — it remains undeniable that protesters were doused with chemical irritants. The CDC considers the chemical irritants used in Washington to fit within the broad umbrella term of “tear gas.” “Pepper ball” is a friendly sounding name for a projectile filled with a chemical irritant similar to tear gas. When fired from a pistol-like device, the balls burst and spread a 12-foot cloud that “affects the eyes, nose and respiratory system,” according to PepperBall, its San Diego-based manufacturer.

]]>https://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/04/despite-trump-claim-tear-gas-was-used-in-d-c-protests/feed/0Will Police Be Disciplined For Using Force Against Protesters?https://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/04/will-police-be-disciplined-for-using-force-against-protesters/
https://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/04/will-police-be-disciplined-for-using-force-against-protesters/#respondThu, 04 Jun 2020 10:19:15 +0000https://thecrimereport.org/?p=968102Demonstrators opposing police have been repeatedly met with force, some of it deployed against peaceful protesters, bystanders and journalists and much of it captured in video footage shared on social media and cable news. While some incidents have led to discipline for officers, the episodes has just as often gone unpunished and prompted still more criticism of law enforcement and questions about why they have reacted by firing gas, rubber bullets and driving into protesters, the Washington Post reports. Police have said they are under incredible strain, facing violent attacks that include officers being shot, hit by cars or targeted with bricks and fireworks. Police vehicles have been set on fire and department buildings have been targeted. In Las Vegas, a police officer responding to demonstrations was shot and seriously injured.

As protests grip cities, violence against police raises fears of harsher crackdowns. While most protests have been peaceful, President Donald Trump and other officials have focused on the groups setting fires, looting and causing destruction. Trump is “supporting violence against the citizens who are protesting,” said Joshua Tepfer, a civil rights attorney in Chicago who has represented clients alleging police misconduct. Police are “just reverting to brute force” out of frustration, said Alex Vitale, a sociology professor at Brooklyn College and author of “The End of Policing.” It can be notoriously difficult for departments to punish officers deemed to be engaging in wrongdoing. A Washington Post investigation in 2017 found that over more than a decade, the largest police departments fired at least 1,881 officers for misconduct and had to reinstate more than 450 of them after appeals.

]]>https://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/04/will-police-be-disciplined-for-using-force-against-protesters/feed/0Some Police Organizations Break With Bidenhttps://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/04/some-police-organizations-break-with-biden/
https://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/04/some-police-organizations-break-with-biden/#respondThu, 04 Jun 2020 10:06:19 +0000https://thecrimereport.org/?p=968152Joe Biden has prided himself on being a union-friendly Democrat with a good relationship with rank-and-file cops. His call for more policing reforms and oversight after the death of George Floyd — and the perception that he hasn’t shown enough solidarity with law enforcement amid the nationwide protests and unrest — have created a fissure with law enforcement groups, leaving many who once supported him frustrated by what they regard as political posturing by their one-time ally, reports Politico. “He kept moving left and fell off the deep end,” said Bill Johnson of the National Association of Police Organizations (NAPO), the umbrella organization for Police Benevolent Association chapters. “For Joe Biden, police are shaking their heads because he used to be a stand-up guy who backed law enforcement.”

President Donald Trump has issued a call to restore “law and order,” threatening military action to beat back violent protests. Biden has tiptoed around the defense of law enforcement, focusing instead on the need for reforms amid racial disparities plaguing the nation. This week, Biden highlighted the rights of protesters and offered police reforms, making only a passing mention of police officers. The Trump campaign criticized him for failing to mention police killed and wounded amid the unrest. NAPO endorsed Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012 because of Biden’s presence on the ticket. After the Black Lives Matter movement began in response to the killing of black Florida teen Trayvon Martin by a neighborhood watchman, police increasingly became Republican, said Jim Pasco of the Fraternal Order of Police. “Biden was right of center: the ‘94 crime bill, the Brady law and enhanced penalties,” Pasco said. “But as time has gone by, his positions have moderated, moderated, moderated to where … he would not be considered a law-and-order guy in the sense that law enforcement sees it.”

]]>https://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/04/some-police-organizations-break-with-biden/feed/0Grand Jury Review Sought in Black Omaha Protester’s Deathhttps://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/04/ne-prosecutor-seeks-grand-jury-review-of-blacks-death/
https://thecrimereport.org/2020/06/04/ne-prosecutor-seeks-grand-jury-review-of-blacks-death/#respondThu, 04 Jun 2020 09:13:40 +0000https://thecrimereport.org/?p=968170Outrage over the death of a black Omaha protester who was shot in a scuffle with a white bar owner has roiled the city’s protests this week, and a prosecutor called for a grand jury to review his decision not to charge the shooter, reports the Washington Post. Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine said Wednesday that he would ask a court for a grand jury to investigate the case of James Scurlock, 22, whose death fueled protesters’ anger and inspired a new rallying cry on the streets: “What about James?” Kleine had said he would not file charges against Jacob “Jake” Gardner, who authorities say fatally shot Scurlock Saturday night as protests swept through the city’s Old Market area. The two men had grappled, and Kleine said Gardner had acted in self-defense. Kleine called the killing “senseless, but justified.”

After calls from the victim’s family and black leaders for a grand jury investigation, Kleine said he stood by his decision but was acting in the interest of “transparency” amid protests after the death of George Floyd. Hundreds of protesters have been arrested in a week of demonstrations that have left Omaha’s downtown a maze of boarded up buildings and closed roads. A meeting of black leaders, clergy and Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts deteriorated when Ricketts called the leaders “you people,” which they took as a racial slur. Ricketts later appeared on a radio program that serves Omaha’s black community to apologize and say that he “chose his words poorly.”